Dennis Onyango: There is no fit-all democratic model
Kenyan voters wait in line to cast their ballots on August 9, 2022. The model that befits individual country best is always the most appropriate route.
Naturally, democracy presumes various patterns and develops on varied footpaths in a world diverse in history, culture and ethnicity.
But instead of respecting diversity and countries’ preferences, Western countries have repeatedly tried to export their democracy in Africa and Middle East, only to create conflict and regional instability.
This democratic model is severely tainted and has descended into malfunction, political polarisation and partisan combats. And one can, for instance, prove the faulty American democracy through increase in racism, inequality and crises in West Africa.
Under President Joe Biden, the US terminated 20 years of war in Afghanistan with a hasty pullout of troops but after destroying the country’s infrastructure and the future of several generations of Afghans.
Several surveys have indicated that Muslim and Arab countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa are losing faith in Western democracy to deliver economic stability.
There is no one democratic framework that fits every country. The model that befits individual country best is always the most appropriate route.
Instances abound of the Communist Party of China in guiding the citizens to pursue, develop and realise democracy. It is nurtured by the culture and traditions of the Chinese civilisation and aligned to the local conditions while drawing on the realisation of humanity.
Under its political system, Beijing has eradicated sheer poverty, established a moderately flourishing society in various fields and created miracles of fast economic growth and social stability.
States have their own sociopolitical culture and historical circumstances that can shape political institutions, remarks Columbia University professor Jeffrey D. Sachs in the 2015 book, The Age of Sustainable Development.
Only democratic principles rooted in a state’s unique social surroundings are sustainable, reliable and efficient and can see the people flourish.
- Mr Onyango is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya. [email protected].
